National Landscape Conservation System promise of improved management for some of our prime national lands

The National Landscape Conservation System is no household word, and perhaps these vast expanses of some of America's finest wildlands could not fit in a household word.

Established by President Bill Clinton, the NLCS includes the crown jewels of all the lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

In 2000 Clinton, working with secretary of interior Bruce Babbitt, proclaimed 22 new national monuments in nine western states. Two features distinguish the Clinton-Babbitt monuments from earlier ones: they are under the administration of the BLM instead of the National Park Service or the Forest Service, and they are grand in scale, setting aside whole sweeping landscapes for their natural and historic values.

Clinton created the NLCS to include these new national monuments along with all other BLM lands with special protective status, such as wilderness areas, national conservation areas, wild-and-scenic rivers, national scenic trails, and historic sites. The NLCS is a network of the last places to experience the history and wild beauty of the American West, and its 26 million acres provide a uniquely American experience.

Acting BLM Director Jim Hughes stated it well at a recent congressional hearing: "The NLCS currently includes 20 million acres of archaeological and historic treasures such as Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in Colorado and the Oregon National Historic Trail, wildlife havens such as Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area in Idaho and Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness in Arizona, and hiking challenges such as King Range National Conservation Area along the Lost Coast of northern California and significant sections of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail as it winds its way through New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. In an increasingly crowded and fast-changing West, NLCS units provide some of the best examples of open space. For the most part, NLCS units are not highly developed. Rather, they provide visitors a different kind of outdoor experience an opportunity to explore, discover, and relax. These are places to get lost and find oneself."

California's part in the NLCS

Three of the great Clinton national monuments form the core of California's portion of the NLCS.

The Carrizo Plain National Monument, 100 airline miles from Los Angeles, is a place bypassed by time. Soda Lake, its centerpiece, is a glistening bed of white salt, set within a vast open grassland rimmed by steep mountains. The plain is home to diverse communities of wildlife and plants, with the pronghorn antelope especially notable. It is culturally important to Native Americans.

The Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument encompasses more than 272,000 acres of desert and mountain lands in Riverside County.

The California Coastal National Monument includes all islands, rocks, exposed reefs, and pinnacles off the California coast above the high-water mark that were not already appropriated for other uses, extending out 12 miles along the entire 840-mile California coast. BLM manages the monument from a central office in Monterey in cooperation with gateway communities along the coast.

Some of the Clinton national monuments are managed by other agencies and so are not part of the NLCS. In California these are Giant Sequoia National Monument, managed by the Forest Service, and additions to Pinnacles National Monument, managed by the Park Service.

Legislation to enhance system

Established by presidential proclamation, the NLCS lacks permanent designation. Further, without adequate management funding, these extraordinary places are being ruined by vandalism, reckless off-road-vehicle use, oil and gas drilling, and neglect. The system averages less than one ranger for every 200,000 acres. The President's fiscal year 2008 Budget Request for the Conservation System proposed the lowest funding levels since the NLCS was established, providing less than $2 an acre to manage these crown jewels of western public lands.

Concerned about this inadequate protection, in April Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) introduced legislation (S 1139) to make the NLCS permanent through an "organic act" analogous to the 1916 Organic Act that established the National Park Service. The bill would declare conservation of natural- and cultural-landscape values the principal purpose of the entire system.

A new purpose and image for BLM

The NLCS has great importance for the nation and also for the BLM itself. The BLM, established in 1946 by the combining of two former federal agencies, the Grazing Service and the General Land Service, was saddled with the "left-over" public lands those not set aside as national parks, forests, or refuges. The agency has too often gained the reputation of just letting our public lands be used for extraction and development. Although this agency manages more public land than any other (some 260 million acres nationwide) it is little-known to the general public and is sadly underfunded the poor step-child of the federal government. It has been subject to lampooning as the Bureau of Large Mistakes or Bureau of Livestock and Mining.

Responsibility for the NLCS is an opportunity for the BLM to demonstrate its ability to assure protective management for vast western areas and to educate the public about the historical and natural values of these significant landscapes. If the Bureau rises to the occasion, it can show its relevance to our nation's needs for the 21st century.

Vicky Hoover, Sierra Club California wilderness chair